Erstwhile Eject
Opposite engineers build planes without pilots, and the eject button sucks.
The past is a foreign duckstack
If you have ever fallen to your death, you may know that your life flashes before your eyes. This is due to Einstein’s theory of relativity1 which is that time moves differently the faster you’re moving. In this case, the sun is rising and setting fast enough to give you a strobe light effect while you sort through your memories, leisurely stacking and cataloguing them in midair, wishing you had thought to bring your filing cabinet with you, but alas its too late now.
If you are reading this, its because you survived. Now all that cataloguing in the sky was useless, and falling to your death was a total waste of your time. You might feel like a failure, and rightly so, but do not worry. The Duckstack allows even failures to peruse our material. You may proceed.
History Is Written
3 prominent American myths and where to find them
In a war, there are few things more advantageous than giving your enemy bad intel. You can lure someone into an ambush, or get them to commit resources prematurely, or not enough, or get them to squander resources ineffectively- basically, it all but guarantees victory. As Joseph Smith put it: “nothing is a greater injury to the children of men than to be under the influence of a false spirit when they think they have the Spirit of God” And we are at war, against principalities, dominions, kingdoms- Not a physical war, but a war for our souls, and our kids souls. We are used to talking about obvious things- but Obviously information is going to be a primary target.
How does the devil misinform? Firstly he is going to post memes online, of course. That’s one of the most common languages people speak these days2. Thankfully (for him) it is extremely easy to just post lies on the internet, kind of incredible, wow. This is known though, which reduces its effectiveness. We all3 know to take things we read on the internet with a grain of salt. The most effective thing for the devil would be to subvert a trustworthy source, and subvert it in a way that would not be detectable for a long time. You can see this a little bit with small institutions like fact checkers and social media moderators and “the media” just kind of in general. If you can implant a negative meme (in the mental-viral sense, not the funny picture sense) at a deep enough level, it becomes a cultural artifact, and others will socially enforce it. Your cultures pressure points are guaranteed to be some of Satan’s highest priority military objectives. And he is going to prop lies up with half truths, in my opinion.
I wish to examine three atrocities, though not in depth. I only wish to suggest that a real horror is some of the easiest material for memetic spread. I would say the three biggest events in American History are as thus, followed by the lesson taken from them:
9/11 - That religious extremism leads to murder
The Holocaust - That racism leads to genocide
Prohibition - That trying to stop a problem makes it worse
These narratives have always bothered me. I have no affinity to the various conspiracy theories around these events, but I do wonder why these are the main morals taken from these events, especially when counterexamples are plentiful and obvious:
The Amish, Buddhist Monks and the Latter Day Saint pioneers are about as religiously extreme as it gets, yet most of their practice has historically been withdrawal and charity work. Yet when speaking of following God, really following him, people will think you unstable.
Affirmative action is racism. When you think one race is specifically disadvantaged and seek to give them extra, this is racial discrimination. It makes no difference in outcome whether you think X race is “discriminated” or whether you think they are naturally inferior- most racism draws along cultural boundaries and becomes simply nations with trade policies, not exterminationism.
Prohibition was actually decently successful, but alas, history is written by the victors. And yet, Singapore has incredibly low crime rates. I always ask myself when I notice things like this: “Who is most advantaged by telling you that predators don’t exist?” Who stands to gain from these memes? Who controls society?
There is some truth to each of these memes, but there is much falsehood also- One might think of these as a societal orientation of sorts, each narrative compass straddling a default neutral issue which is now polarized. Instead of doing “nuance”, picking and choosing a direction based on best outcomes or morality, one avenue is lit, while the other is dark.
In a high trust society not having to lock your doors is super useful, but in a low trust society, acting as though there is no reason to lock your door would be suicide. But you can also hurt feelings when you behave in a low trust way with someone who is trustworthy- there is a balance of righteous judgement, which we must practice, lest we be found inadequate when correct judgement matters.
In most cases, you and God will be your only line of defense for your family from devil-crafted malicious intel.
I hope we’re all okay.
Liquidated
Horoscope sale, everything must go
What does your favored drinking implement say about you? Take this fun quiz to find out!
Cup: When people see you drinking out of a cup, they are for sure thinking these exact words: “I bet he’s thirsty”. Memorize this.
Mug: The classic mug is a sophisticated yet somewhat hippie choice with an elegant cottage flair. Even if you fill it with something as mundane as water, or exotic as engine coolant, it will still look classy, and from a distance people will still think you’re doing something that makes the mug necessary, like hot chocolate or something. This is why discarded mugs evoke such a strongly existential emotion- you must keep yours close. Because everyone is waiting to use your poise against you, at any turn. You’ll never be safe, you must keep your guard up indefinitely.
Jug: A slob and a bachelor, this goes double for cartons.
Barrel:
Cistern: Do you get your daily 8 glasses from half-drowning in a cistern? This sunrise ritual is sure to give you healthy skin and peace of mind.
HISTORY
More like Hikestory because I carried the kid with the broken foot at least two miles on foot uphill on our mountain vacation this weekend
Mama commented this week that she wanted to make sugar cookies, and the kid interjected “SUGAR?” because he noticed a word that he had made a connection with: “Does it have, too much sugar in it? I don’t like that!” Glad he’s so nutrition minded
Later, out of nowhere: “Mama, what kind of vegetable is juice?”
Later, out of nowhere: “Mama, is pee made of water?”
After picking out a bunch of donuts at a donut shop and walking out with the box: “Oh! there are donuts on the box!” Yes kiddo its a donut box. He ate all the sprinkles and frosting off the donut and left the bread part btw
The kid broke his foot last week, I think I mentioned. Well, this week we went camping and hiking and he sprinted everywhere in his little boot, climbing up massive boulders and laughing maniacally as we all tried to stop him.
He has been doing fantastic at potty training, and you are all very proud of him4. This week he told Mama "Now wipe my bum so I can take care of you. Because you're my baby."
The toddler has not had any accidents, but he did wake up early and climb all over the toddler, who sleepily kicked at him and whined. The toddler is used to his brothers attacks and prudently moved out of range of the kicks. Then, he paused, and considered his brother’s kicking motion. After some consideration, he sat down and started kicking one of his feet in the air the same way.
Einstein was such a rascal
The devil appears before you as an angel of light and says “Huy mon con A berrew semu menuy fer thu bis A luft my wollut ot hemu” wyd?
People who don’t fit this criteria excepted, of course. This time. Don’t let it happen again
Surprise! Now you know